New York State Assemblyman William F. Boyland Charged With Mail Fraud For Defrauding New York State

A superseding indictment against New York State Assemblyman William F. Boyland, Jr. was filed today in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, which added new charges of mail fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud New York State by submitting fraudulent vouchers for travel expense and per diem payments. The Superseding Indictment also includes the charges from the underlying indictment against Boyland, charging him with bribery and attempted Hobbs Act extortion for soliciting more than $250,000 in bribes and accepting thousands of dollars of bribe money in exchange for performing official acts for the bribe payers.1 The charges were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and George Venizelos, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), New York Field Office.

As charged in the Superseding Indictment, from January 2007 to December 2011, Boyland fraudulently submitted New York State Assembly Member Travel Vouchers (Vouchers) in which he falsely claimed to be in Albany on legislative business when he in fact was not in Albany. New York State records show that in reliance on Boyland’s fraudulent Vouchers, New York State paid Boyland tens of thousands of dollars in mileage expense and per diem payments.

For example, on some of the days on which Boyland falsely claimed that he was in Albany and thus entitled to mileage expense and per diem payments, Boyland was actually not in Albany and was instead in New York City meeting with individuals he believed to be out-of-state businessmen and real estate developers, but who actually were the undercover FBI agents from whom he solicited bribes. In addition, E-ZPass records associated with Boyland’s vehicle and New York State Assembly records reflect that Boyland was not in Albany on the days when he claimed on Vouchers to be there on legislative business. By falsely overstating the number of days in which he was in Albany for legislative business, Boyland fraudulently secured tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds to which he was not entitled.

If convicted, Boyland faces a maximum sentence on each fraud charge of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution.

United States Attorney Lynch and Assistant Director-in-Charge Venizelos expressed their thanks to the New York State Comptroller’s Office for its assistance in this phase of the investigation.

The government's case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Robert Capers and Lan Nguyen.

The Defendant:

WILLIAM F. BOYLAND, JR.
Age: 42

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1 The charges contained in the superseding indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.